Charter Oak Cultural Center And Immanuel Congregational Church Announce Reading Of James Baldwin's THE AMEN CORNER
The Amen Corner directed by taneisha duggan to be read on Sunday, February 23 at Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford
Charter Oak Cultural Center and Immanuel Congregational Church has announced a one-time-only reading of author and activist James Baldwin's first stage play The Amen Corner. The reading, under the direction of acclaimed theatre artist Taneisha Duggan, will be on Sunday, February 23 at 3pm at Immanuel Congregational Church, located at 10 Woodland Street in Hartford.
The cast, drawn from the Greater Hartford community includes Maria Altenor, Tyrone Brown, Grace Clark, Loren Denise, Joshua Eaddy, Stephanie Johnson, Nia Joi, Vilinda McGregor, Beverly Moffatt, Nadia Sims, Quoron Walker, and Omar Walters.
Tickets for the reading are $15 with no one turned away for lack of funds. Reservations can be made at CharterOakCenter.org/events/ with tickets also available at the door.
Charter Oak Executive Director Rabbi Donna Berman states, "We are so excited to be presenting The Amen Corner with Immanuel Congregational Church to honor the centennial of James Baldwin's birth. James Baldwin was a brilliant writer and a courageous warrior for racial justice. To this day, he is a beacon of hope and a source of inspiration."
About The Amen Corner
For his first work for the theater James Baldwin brought all the fervor and majestic rhetoric of the storefront churches of his childhood along with an unwavering awareness of the price those churches exacted from their worshipers.
For years Sister Margaret Alexander has moved her Harlem congregation with a mixture of personal charisma and ferocious piety. But when Margaret's estranged husband, a scapegrace jazz musician, comes home to die, she is in danger of losing both her standing in the church and the son she has tried to keep on the godly path. The Amen Corner is a play about faith and family, about the gulf between black men and black women and black fathers and black sons. It is a scalding, uplifting, sorrowful and exultant masterpiece of the modern American theater.
About James Baldwin
James Baldwin (1924–1987) was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, appeared in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his essay collections Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time were bestsellers that made him an influential figure in the growing civil rights movement. Baldwin spent much of his life in France, where he moved to escape the racism and homophobia of the United States. He died in France in 1987, a year after being made a Commander of the French Legion of Honor.
About Taneisha Duggan
taneisha is a producing artist working at the crossroads of performance and creative leadership. As a director her work lends itself to provocative interpretations of new works and classics. As a producer and arts administrator, she is propelled by the belief that the culture we present is the society we become. Select Directing credits: How I Learned What I Learned (Geva Theater), Pass Over (Lost Nations) Bulrusher (Juilliard) Actually (TheaterWorks Hartford), Hooded: or Being Black for Dummies (Juilliard). Select Producing credits: New York Times Critic picks Walden by Amy Berryman and Russian Troll Farm by Sarah Gancher; Proximity by Harrison David Rivers (commission). She trained as an actor at SUNY - Purchase College in The School of Theater Arts and Film, and has appeared on regional stages in Connecticut and New York, including TheaterWorks Hartford, Long Wharf and LaMama. She is a 2016 National Arts Strategies Creative Community Fellow, mama of two boys and believer in radical love-filled disruption.
About Charter Oak Cultural Center
Charter Oak Cultural Center is a nonprofit multicultural arts center and historic landmark whose mission is to do the work of social justice through the arts in Hartford and beyond. Charter Oak serves as a hub for creativity, cultural exchange and community building and no one is ever turned away for lack of funds from any of its events or offerings. CharterOakCenter.org
About Immanuel Congregational Church
Immanuel Congregational Church is part of the United Church of Christ. Formed in 1957 by the joining of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church, the UCC is a denomination that is modeling justice by voting to become Open & Affirming, Just Peace, and to embrace prophetic hospitality. iccucc.org
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